"It's all about that bass!
That bass!
That bass!
No treble!"
-- Meghan Trainor
"None of us wanted to be the
bass player. It wasn't the #1 job: we wanted
to be up front. In our minds, it was the
fat guy in the group who nearly always played the
bass, and he stood at the back. None of us
wanted that; we wanted to be up front singing,
looking good."
-- Paul McCartney
"Mister bass man
You got that
certain something
Mister bass man
You set the
music thumping...
Hey mister bass
man
You're head and
king of rock and roll"
-- Johnny Cymbal
DID YOU KNOW?
Bass players are hard to come by. If you want to
join a band, there is usually more demand for bass players
than for guitarists and drummers. It is a fun
instrument to play, and it's much faster to learn than
keyboard or guitar. If you already know basic guitar,
learning bass is a snap. Even if you don't, it's not
hard to learn. If you are a vocalist, you will be much
more marketable if you can also play an instrument.
Bass is an excellent choice for vocalists because playing
bass is not as complicated as guitar and thus it leaves you
free to focus more of your attention on your singing.
INSTRUCTOR:
Dr. Irv Nelson has been playing in bands for over 40 years,
and playing bass for about 15 years. I am the former
bass player in the classic rock band The Fender Benders
(I now play rhythm guitar and keyboard in that band), I
usually play bass in Relic Acoustic Band,
and I fill in on bass for other performing groups.
On stage with Carl Hart in The Fender Benders
Additionally,
I have also performed bass with many other artists,
including on numerous occasions with the Utah State
University choirs in concert.
After a concert in the Recital Hall with the USU Chorale and
Chamber Singers
I
currently own four bass guitars. My main "axe" is a
Yamaha TRBX304 with Elixir Nanoweb strings. This bass
has a nice tone that suits many styles of music. It
also has a great feel, a very fast neck, and excellent
balance. I love its exceptional electronic tone
controls.
I also play a Fender Jazz bass with a "Badass" bridge and
super-bright DR Silver Stars strings for that punchy
"J-bass" sound (the white one on the right, below). I
also own a smooth, woody-sounding Ibanez SR400FL fretless
bass with flatwound D'Addario XL Chromes strings that
combines the woody sound of an upright bass with the best
features of a bass guitar (the black one, third from the
left, below).
Four of Irv's bass guitars at a gig a few
years ago
(I've since sold the 5 string Ibanez and the Danelectro on the
left)
My fourth bass is a Breedlove Studio BJ350/SMe4
acoustic-electric guitar bass with D'Addario EXP Phosphor
Bronze strings. This bass looks like an oversized
acoustic guitar (see below) and it has a very different
sound than any of my electric basses. It has the
perfect tone for my unplugged trio, Relic Acoustic
Band.
My bass amp is a TC Electronic RH750 "class D" digital
modeling amp that very accurately simulates everything from
the fat and bright '80's SWR sound to the monster '70's
all-tube Ampeg sound. It has 750 Watts, but it weighs
only 8.5 lbs. I love this amp! I play it into an
SWR Goliath III 4x10 (the black cabinet with four speakers
pictured above). For outdoor gigs, I sometimes add an
SWR Big Ben 1x18 cabinet.
The reason I tell you about my equipment is so you'll know
how much I love playing bass and how serious I am about this
instrument! I love teaching bass. I don't have
very many bass students, but those I do have are having a
great time and are making fantastic progress!
IRV'S PHILOSOPHY OF TEACHING BASS:
I have a somewhat different philosophy of teaching bass
than do most bass teachers, that enables my beginning
students to learn much faster than normal. Rather than
starting with the names of the notes and how to read music,
I begin by employing a number system that is used
extensively by studio "session" musicians, based on the
intervals in the scale of the song. The primary
advantage of this method is that the students learn the
relationship of the bass notes within each song, and also
from song to song. Rather than merely memorizing the
notes, students learn the theory of what is happening.
This leads to improved improvisation, transposition, and
playing-by-ear skills. A secondary advantage is that
it is much faster to learn songs with numbers than with note
names. Right from the start, my students can play
songs note for note. They also can transpose any song
they learn into any key signature. Yes, we eventually
get around to learning the names of the notes, but teaching
the intervals first has HUGE advantages in learning bass
because it is so much simpler and faster to learn.
As the student progresses, we get into chord theory.
Chord theory gives the student an understanding of where the
bass note has been, where it's going, and how it relates to
the chord being played by the other instruments.
The other thing I do differently is that, unlike some
teachers, I am not a big fan of practicing scales and
exercises. It's much more fun to just learn songs that
have cool bass lines and scales in them. I teach songs
students want to learn, starting the first week, and as they
learn the songs, they learn the techniques.
Of course I teach proper technique for left hand
fingering, right hand finger picking, and using a pick. I
also teach proper bass setup (string height and intonation)
and other technical aspects of the instrument and
amplification. But mostly, I teach lots of
songs! The more songs a student learns, the better and
faster the student learns how to play the bass, and the more
the student enjoys the experience.
PRACTICING (for parents of
minor students)
PRACTICING (for adult students)
SELECTING AND
SETTING UP A BASS GUITAR AND AMP
SELECTING A
MICROPHONE
SELECTING A PA
SYSTEM
UNDERSTANDING
GUITAR AMPLIFIERS AND PA SYSTEMS:
Watts, Volts, Ohms, Amps, &
Volume made easy
CONTACT ME
IRV NELSON MUSIC ACADEMY
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